Let us know about other alumni news - past or present - by contacting cmc@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-3177.

Portland music icon esperanza spalding, perhaps our most famous alum, came by to visit the Center in

August. See more in our blog post "VIP Visits".

Bassoonist Midori Samson connected with her former CMC piano teacher, Zita Jefferson, last month to say, “Your music teaching still is with me every day.” Midori graduated from The Juilliard School, recently got a doctorate degree in music, and has a masters degree in social work. She’s been described as “A visionary bassoonist, educator, and social worker whose practice lives at the intersection of music, healing, and social justice.”

Back in February, Brandon Garbot (violin) joined the Geneva-based Aviv Quartet as its newest member. At CMC he was a violin student of Clarisse Atcherson and took many classes in orchestra, chamber music, and music skills. After CMC he went on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Ida Kavafian and Arnold Steinhardt, and obtained his master soloist degree with Rainer Schmidt at the Musik Akademie Basel.